november 14th, 4:30-5:30 PM

"Computational Mechanisms of Similarity Judgment and Analogical Reasoning"Julia Gibson '14Psychology/Cognitive Science The content of this presentation represents my progress thus far on the honors thesis that I am conducting from this fall to the spring of 2014. The objective of the project is to execute a behavioral experiment that quantifies the perceptual parameters for judging similarity and their impact upon the process of analogical mapping. The second phase of the project is to create a neural network model that can replicate these data, so as to present a plausible mechanism for their operation in the brain.

"Using novel TALEN technology for genome modification in the fruit fly D.melanogaster"Katarzyna Sierzputowska '13.5BiologyTALENs are created by fusing together a TAL effector protein, which has a DNA binding domain, to a nuclease, an enzyme that can cut DNA. TALENs can be engineered to bind any DNA sequence, allowing targeted cleavage. In my project, I aim to successfully engineer Drosophila expressing TALENs from the genome, which has never been done before, and try to use them to remove a large part of the fly genome—the gene for red eye color. I also want to sequence the various mutations induced by the engineered TALENs to better understand the limitations of this new technology.

"Characterizing gene expression within the developing Xenopus laevis brain"Angelia Wang '16NeuroscienceResearch on neural disorders focuses on two areas: early brain development and how disruption of that process results in impairment of function. Like humans, tadpoles undergo a critical period of synaptogenesis (rapid synapse formation) during which there is an observable change in the amount of neural connections between cells and between brain regions. My primary goal is to characterize gene expression during this period.

There are still spots open! Please register right now if you're interested in presenting!